Partisan politics appear to have played a role in a decision by the Stark County commissioners Thursday on who will represent the Board of Elections in an action filed against them in the Ohio Supreme Court.

Canton attorney Craig Conley is seeking to have Stark County Sheriff George Maier removed from the May 6 primary election ballot due to his client's claim that Maier doesn't meet the supervisory or educational state requirements to be a sheriff. Conley filed a writ of prohibition with the Supreme Court on Monday with his client, Cynthia Balas-Bratton, as protester and the Stark County BOE and Secretary of State Jon Husted as respondents. After being called upon to break a tie vote by the BOE, Husted ruled on March 7 that Maier has access to the primary election ballot.

Maier was appointed by the Democratic Central Committee to assume the position of sheriff until the general election in November, and Conley filed a protest with the BOE against Maier's candidacy, which he is now taking before the state's Supreme Court.

The commissioners went into executive session after their regular meeting on Wednesday to discuss the pending litigation, but after deliberating for close to an hour and a half, no decision was made on who would represent the BOE, which will require an outside appointment since the county prosecutor, a member of the Democratic Central Committee, has recused himself and his staff from the case.

A special commissioners meeting was set for Thursday to continue the discussion and conduct a vote. Those present included the board of commissioners: Tom Bernabei, president, Janet Weir Creighton and Richard Regula; John Ferrero, county prosecutor, and assistant prosecutors Debbie Dawson and Stephan Babik; attorney David Bridenstine, who is contracted to provide legal services to the county; Maier; and Brant Luther, county administrator.

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An executive session was again held, and following that, Bernabei, a Democrat, reported he made a motion to appoint attorney Donald J. McTigue of the McTigue and McGinnis law firm in Columbus, but it died on the floor for lack of a second. Creighton, a Republican, made a motion to appoint Bridenstine, and that was seconded by Regula, also a Republican. A vote following the motion ended with two in favor and one against the motion, with Bernabei voting no. Creighton and Regula said they didn't want to cause the taxpayers any extra expense and Bridenstine is already under contract with the county, while McTigue would have charged $8,000 to do the job.

Maier had offered to pay the $8,000 fee for McTigue; however, when a third party is paying a legal fee the law requires the party being represented to approve the payment. According to Randy Gonzalez, chair of the Stark County Democratic Party, an additional partisan struggle must have ensued when the BOE, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, could not agree on this, and a two-thirds vote was needed by them to allow it.

"We have a 3-2 vote that Maier should be on the ballot. So, in my opinion, the Board of Elections should do their best to hire the right attorney to support this decision," said Gonzalez.

Bernabei pointed out while he has "absolute confidence" in Bridenstine, he doesn't have a lot of election law experience. McTigue, on the other hand, specializes in election law and has represented clients in numerous other election-related cases before the Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio Elections Commission.